The difference between ACC and PCC level coaching.
Some coaches think that preparing for the PCC credential means moving from 100 client coaching hours to 500 hours and learning more coaching techniques. You will definitely have to meet the client coaching hours’ requirement, and the essence of your coaching will also have to change. Both ACC and PCC coaches are expected to demonstrate the ICF Core Competencies, but the level of depth, consistency, and awareness behind those competencies becomes different.
At the ACC level, coaches demonstrate a solid understanding of the ICF Core Competencies and can facilitate effective coaching conversations. An ACC-level coach is developing the foundation of professional coaching: they understand the role of the coach, establish clear agreements, listen actively, ask meaningful questions, and support clients in exploring their own thinking. The focus is often on building confidence and consistency, e.g. learning to stay in a coaching role, avoid giving advice, and create conversations where the client has space to reflect and discover.
At the PCC level, the difference becomes less about what the coach does and more about how the coach creates the coaching relationship. A PCC coach is able to work with greater flexibility and depth, following the client rather than relying on a structured approach or a sequence of techniques. They listen not only to the content of what the client says but also to patterns, beliefs, emotions, values, and shifts in perspective. They are more comfortable working with uncertainty and complexity, trusting the coaching process instead of trying to move the client toward a particular outcome. The questions become less important than the awareness they create, and interventions are chosen not because they are powerful in themselves, but because they serve what is emerging for this particular client at this particular moment.
The journey from ACC to PCC is ultimately a journey from applying coaching skills to embodying a coaching mindset. A PCC coach brings more presence, emotional intelligence, and professional judgment into the relationship. They are not simply facilitating a conversation; they are creating a space where clients can examine their thinking, challenge their assumptions, and generate meaningful change.
PCC coaches coach the “Who” of the client
Coaching the “Who” means focusing not only on what the client wants to achieve, but on the person they need to become in order to create that change. Many coaching conversations begin with goals, challenges, or situations, e.g.
- “I want to become a better leader”
- “I need to make a difficult decision” or
- “I want to communicate more confidently.”
A coach working at the level of the “What” may explore strategies, actions, and options. A coach working with the “Who” becomes curious about the person behind those goals:
- What beliefs shape the way they lead?
- What assumptions influence their decisions?
- What patterns keep repeating?
For example,
a client who wants to delegate more may not simply need better delegation techniques. They may need to explore their identity as the person who is always responsible, the belief that others cannot do things as well as they can, or the fear that becoming less involved will make them less valuable.
Coaching the “Who” is about helping clients develop greater awareness of the internal frameworks through which they experience the world. Two people can face the same external situation but respond completely differently because they interpret it through different beliefs, values, and personal histories. A leader receiving critical feedback might see it as an opportunity to learn, while another might experience it as a threat to their competence and identity. The coach’s role is not to change the client’s personality or analyze their past, but to help them notice the invisible filters influencing their choices. Questions such as
- “What does this situation mean about you?”
- “What are you assuming right now?”
- “Who are you being when you respond this way?” or
- “What part of yourself are you bringing into this situation?”
invite a deeper level of reflection where new possibilities can emerge.
At its deepest level, coaching the “who” supports clients in becoming more intentional about the person they choose to be in different situations. It is not about creating a perfect version of themselves, but about expanding their range of choices. A client may discover that they can be both decisive and open, ambitious and compassionate, confident and willing to learn. A coach working at this level helps clients move beyond automatic patterns and develop a more conscious relationship with themselves. The transformation is not only that they achieve a goal; it is that they begin to operate from a different place internally. This is why coaching the “who” is often associated with deeper, transformational coaching. The focus shifts from changing what a person does to expanding their awareness of who they are and who they can become.
Do you want to learn more about coaching the Who? Listen to our podcast episode on the topic.
What helps to transition from ACC to PCC level of coaching
The transition from ACC-level coaching to PCC-level coaching requires a different kind of learning experience. It cannot happen simply by adding more tools, models, or frameworks to a coach’s knowledge. At this stage, coaches usually already understand the basic competencies and can conduct a structured coaching conversation. The challenge is developing the depth behind those skills, i.e. learning to listen beyond the words, notice patterns, work with emotions and assumptions, and respond to what is emerging rather than following a predetermined approach. A curriculum that supports this transition needs to create enough space for reflection, experimentation, and feedback, because PCC-level coaching develops through the repeated cycle of practice, awareness, and refinement rather than through intellectual understanding alone.
A strong PCC-focused learning experience combines advanced competency development with deeper exploration of the coach’s own way of being. Coaches need opportunities to examine how their beliefs, experiences, cultural background, emotional responses, and personal preferences influence the coaching relationship. This is where areas such as relational coaching, emotional intelligence, cultural intelligence, presence, and reflective practice become essential. The most effective transition happens when coaches are not pushed to simply imitate a “PCC style” of coaching, but are supported in developing their own authentic coaching presence.
A high-quality PCC-level program creates an environment where coaches can slow down, explore complexity, receive honest feedback, and gradually expand their capacity to stay curious in challenging moments. The goal is not to make every coach sound the same or follow one ideal model of coaching. The goal is to help each coach develop the awareness, confidence, and professional judgment to work skillfully with different clients and situations. In this sense, becoming a PCC coach is not about adding another qualification; it is about a deeper evolution in how the coach understands their role and how they show up in service of the client.
Why do relational, emotional, and intercultural capabilities matter at the PCC level?
As coaching conversations become more complex, technical competence alone is no longer enough. PCC-level coaches need to recognize how emotions, relationships, assumptions, and cultural perspectives influence every conversation. They also need the flexibility to adapt without losing the coaching partnership.
Developing coaching excellence requires coaches to expand their capacity to work not only with what the client is saying, but with the person who is bringing that story into the conversation. Emotional intelligence allows coaches to recognize and work skillfully with emotions by understanding emotions as valuable information about the client’s values, needs, beliefs, and internal experience. A coach who integrates emotional intelligence into their coaching can notice subtle shifts in energy, hesitation, enthusiasm, resistance, or uncertainty and use that awareness to deepen exploration. This creates a different level of coaching, where the conversation moves beyond the immediate situation or problem and helps clients understand themselves as the source of their own patterns, choices, and possibilities.
Relational presence and cultural awareness help coaches develop the ability to meet each client without reducing them to a problem, goal, role, or identity. Every client enters coaching with a unique combination of experiences, values, cultural assumptions, social context, and ways of making meaning. A coach who develops cultural awareness learns to question their own interpretations and avoid unconsciously imposing their own worldview on the client’s experience. Relational coaching is about creating a partnership where the client feels genuinely seen and where the coach remains open to discovering the client’s reality rather than quickly categorizing or interpreting it. This allows coaching conversations to become more inclusive, nuanced, and relevant because the coach is working with the whole person, not only with the topic they brought to the session.
The philosophy of self as tool brings all of these elements together by recognizing that the coach’s greatest instrument is not a model or technique, but their own capacity for awareness. Through reflective practice, coaches learn to examine how their presence influences the conversation: what they notice, what they avoid, where they become attached to an outcome, and how their own assumptions may shape their responses. This ongoing inner work develops professional maturity — the ability to remain curious under pressure, hold complexity without rushing to simplify it, and make intentional choices in service of the client. At the highest levels of coaching, excellence comes not from having more answers, but from developing the awareness to create the conditions where clients can access their own deeper awareness.
Does completing Level 2 automatically give you a PCC credential?
No. Completing an ICF-accredited Level 2 program provides the coaching education required for the PCC credential, but the credential itself is awarded by the International Coaching Federation after coaches meet all current credentialing requirements, including 500+ hours of client coaching hours and passing the credentialing exam. Our role is to prepare coaches for PCC-level work by developing coaching skills, providing mentor coaching and coaching session evaluation at this level.
Trust us with your PCC credential preparation
At UpThink Coaching, our Beyond the Tools (Level 2) program curriculum is designed to help coaches move beyond performing coaching techniques toward coaching with greater awareness and professional judgment. Our program emphasizes relational coaching, emotional intelligence, cultural intelligence, and reflective practice alongside the ICF Core Competencies. These capabilities strengthen coaching presence and help coaches work effectively with a wider range of clients and situations. Rather than teaching additional techniques, we help coaches deepen the quality of the coaching they already know how to provide.
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